Turkish Journal of
GERIATRICS

İzmir Atatürk Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi, Psikiyatri Kliniği, İZMİR
İzmir Atatürk Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi, Fizik Tedavi ve Rehabilitasyon Kliniği, İZMİR
İzmir SHÇEK Yaşlılar Huzurevi Kurum Hekimi-İZMİR The lengthening of the life span in last century is changing the dispersion of physical and psychological problems in the elderly. With the increase of the population over 60, the possibility of I coexistence of physical diseases and psychological diseases such as dementia and depression are increased. In addition to these diseases, in the elderly the quality of life may be impaired with other factors. In this cross-sectional and controlled study, it was aimed to investigate the cognitive functions, psychiatric disorders, severity of depressive symptoms and quality of life in a group of elderly living in a nursing home. 30 elderly living in a nursing home and 20 elderly living in the community are included in the study. The nursing home group and control group were matched in terms of age and sex. The participants were all volunteered and shouldn't have been any disability to complete the questionnaires and interview. SF-36, SCID-I, ERFC and GDQ were used to evaluate the quality of life, mental disorders, cognitive functions and level of depression, respectively. From sociodemographic point of view, the total number of children of the elderly living in the nursing home was significantly lower than the control group. The factors affecting the quality of life in the nursing home group were poor economic conditions and long residence. In conclusion, no statistical significance was found between the nursing home and the control group in terms of psychiatric diagnose, severity of depressive symptoms and level of cognitive functions. Variables effecting the life quality of two groups showed difference, so in our opinion, we should especially pay attention to the quality of life of elderly with poor economic conditions and long residence in nursing homes. Keywords : Elderly, Depression, Cognitive functions, Mental disorder, Quality of life, Cross-sectional, Controlled study